Monthly Archives: September 2016

In my youth, after reading the flowery rhetoric of Quintilian and Tully, I entered on the vigorous study of Hebrew, the expenditure of much time and energy barely enabled me to utter the puffing and hissing words; I seemed to be walking in a sort of underground chamber with a few scattered rays of light shining down upon me; and when at last I met with Daniel, such a sense of weariness came over me that, in a fit of despair, I could have counted all my former toil as useless. But there was a certain Hebrew who encouraged me, and was for ever quoting for my benefit the saying that “Persistent labour conquers all things”; and so, conscious that among Hebrews I was only a smatterer, I once more began to study Chaldee. And, to confess the truth, to this day I can read and understand Chaldee better than I can pronounce it. – St Jerome

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ANN ARBOR, MI (WCMH) – A University of Michigan student is having some fun with His Majesty’s school’s policy of allowing students to choose their preferred gender pronouns on class rosters. Grant Strobl, chairman of the Young America’s Foundation, used the new policy to update his preferred pronoun to “His Majesty.”

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But that isn’t stopping the ignoramuses like the people at Relevant Magazine from blowing it all out of proportion and making a suit out of a button.

The little bauble proves nothing that is being claimed it proves. Nothing. But if you give the ‘desperate for proof’ lot even the most tenuous something or other they’re sure to run with it- in spite of the fact that at the end of the day they’re simply lying about it all.

But they don’t care. Because ‘proof’ – even if it doesn’t exist – is more important than ‘truth’ (in spite of the fact that they claim they’re Christians).

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At a Friday local chapter meeting of anti-religion group Atheist Friends United, skeptic and freethinker Michelle Newberry reportedly delivered a powerful, inspiring testimony, recounting her journey from hoping in God to finally realizing that she is nothing but a carbon-based cosmic accident whose existence is of utterly zero consequence.

“At one time, I foolishly believed I was here for a reason, that there was a higher purpose and plan for me in the midst of joy and even suffering,” Newberry told her fellow atheist and agnostic brothers and sisters in the entirely non-religious meeting. “I am humbled and so grateful that I finally came to believe the soul-crushing idea that my existence is a complete accident with absolutely no ultimate meaning.”

Witnesses say there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as Newberry thoughtfully told the touching story of how she finally “saw the light,” when she realized at long last that her existence is the result of an impossibly complex series of inexplicable, incalculable errors, and that she is nothing but a carbon robot devoid of any hope or meaning, barreling toward the absolute nothingness whence she originated.

“I’m here as a witness to the power of atheism—the only reasonable worldview,” she declared. “Things like right and wrong, love and beauty, passion and empathy, ecstasy and heartbreak—these are but leftover, superfluous, physiological baggage from our completely naturalistic journey to being. They don’t mean anything.”

“We should not even exist. Nothing matters. Literally nothing matters at all,” she added with a smile, to the crowd’s enthusiastic applause.

After Newberry finished telling the moving tale of her lack of faith, she reportedly invited anyone who felt called to commit their lives to the void of nothingness to raise their hand, “with every eye closed and every head bowed.” According to Newberry, the group was ecstatic to learn that four new converts were won over to the idea that life is meaningless.

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During the business meeting of the 22nd congress (held in Stellenbosch, South Africa, from 4 to 9 September 2016) of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT), Professor Joachim Schaper (Aberdeen) was elected to serve as President of the IOSOT from 2016 to 2019. One of his main duties will be to host the next (the 23rd) congress of the IOSOT, which will take place at the University of Aberdeen in August 2019 (precise dates to follow). The tri-annual congresses of the IOSOT, typically attended by between 400 and 700 scholars from all over the world, showcase the most innovative and original recent contributions to Old Testament scholarship and serve as a snapshot of the ‘state of the art’ in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible scholarship worldwide. Professor Grant MacAskill (University of Aberdeen) has kindly accepted the invitation to serve as Congress Secretary for the 23rd congress of the IOSOT. He and Professor Schaper look forward to welcoming you to Aberdeen in 2019.

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Those who through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ have escaped the pollutions of this world, according to the words of Peter [2 Peter 2:20], and are not willing to become again entangled therein, ought not to be reckoned as obstinate but as firm in their faith, being unwilling to withdraw from the sacred commands that have been given unto them. — Huldrych Zwingli

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Via Ralph Keen, an expert on Melanchthon, who has evidently discovered a new ipsissima verum verba of the great Reformer!

Get your own copy of The ‘Person in the Pew’ commentary series and BE LIKE MELANCHTHON. It is the only series of Commentaries written by a single person on the entire Bible and aimed at layfolk in modern history.

Just buy the PDF’s from yours truly for a paltry $199 by clicking my PayPal Link. It’s that simple. And if you mention Melanchthon in your email, you can have it for $150!!!!! Seriously bargain-ous!!!

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Tom Wright (he goes by Tom when he writes pop stuff and by NT when it’s more academic because NT reminds you of the New Testament and he likes that association) has published another book which is the same book he’s always written but with a new cover.

Tom Wright- the Vivaldi of New Testament scholars: when you’ve heard one composition you have literally heard them all.

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A South Carolina teenager is suspected of opening fire at an elementary school playground, wounding two students and a teacher — just one minute after placing a teary phone call that led to the discovery of his father’s body at a nearby home.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Office Captain Garland Major told reporters he did not know the relationship between the shooter and those wounded at the school.

Authorities said the suspect was home-schooled and called his grandmother who went to his home and found the boy’s father had been shot.

“She could not make out what he was saying because he was crying and upset and so they went to the house … and that’s when she discovered her son and called 911,” coroner Greg Shore told a news conference on Wednesday night.

Immediately after the shooting, armed officers guarded students as they were evacuated from the school and taken by bus to a nearby church, local media said. Television images showed police swarming the school, with some officers on the roof while others moved around the building.

Guns, guns, guns everywhere. This one can’t be blamed on school bullying or any of the usual reasons. Evidently this shooter didn’t even know the kids he shot and they didn’t know him because he didn’t go to school.